|
Barcelo Solymar 08/24/02
Reviewers Rating:  Excellent
My husband and I recently returned from our two week honeymoon in Varadero (July 15 - 29) where we stayed at the beautiful Barcelo Solymar. I am very disappointed at some of the reviews that people have left regarding this hotel, as our experience was wonderful! HOTEL ROOM Our check in went very smoothly and quickly and we arrived to our standard room on the fourth floor of the hotel with an ocean/pool view. There was a greeting card welcoming us to our honeymoon suite, a bottle of rum and a fruit platter (honeymoon special) Unfortunately there were no king-size beds available at the time of check in so we had two doubles pushed together. The room was air conditioned which was a refreshing break from the heat outside! On two or three occasions, the a/c cut out for about 30 minutes, but not long enough to notice a significant difference. The shower did fluctuate from hot to cold during the shower...although it was a little frustrating, it wasn't that big of a deal. Our room was cleaned everyday in the early afternoon and the cleaning ladies returned around 4:00 to re-stock the mini-bar with water and cola. The in-room safe was great as it is locked with your room key (the cleaning staff cannot access it though). THE BEACH The beach was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! The white sand was so soft! There are a lot of huts that do have to be 'reserved' in the early morning, but it is worth it to get a little shade in the middle of the afternoon! You can borrow the hotel towels for a $10 USD deposit with the money returned when the towels are turned in. We did have a towel go missing one day, but it wasn't tied down, and it was very windy, so who knows... The water is cool in the morning and warm in the afternoon. It is so clear that you can see all the way to the bottom no matter how far out you go! My favorite place in the middle of the afternoon was on a lounge chair in the shallow part of the water, letting the waves lightly hit me... There are lots of activities to take part on the beach during the day, although we didn't do much of that. On several occasions, we went back to the ocean around 8:00 at night for sunset. There was hardly anyone else in the water and the waves get really big! There were locals in the water selling stuff and it did get annoying. All you have to do is tell them you're not interested and they leave right away. FOOD Most people have said that this is where SOLYMAR lacks. We loved the food. You are not in Canada, therefore the food is going to taste different, even if you are eating the same thing. We found that the breakfast buffets were very consistent with a lot of variety. The dinner and lunch buffets always had the 'staples' (rice, salads, fries, potatoes, hamburgers, pasta) and the meats and vegetables varied from day to day. We did notice that Cubans cook with a lot of butter, and most things are very saucy. If you are a picky eater, just stick to the staple items. The coffee was alright. They mix half coffee and half milk. My husband drank it everyday and it satisfied his coffee craving! For desserts, the ice cream was our favorite! It was usually quite soft (what can you expect in CUBA) but always YUMMY! There were always pastries, some which tasted blan but others were very good. You can't expect Tim Horton's quality! Mango juice was the best and our definite favorite beverage! The four different restaurants were all wonderful! I liked the seafood restaurant mostly because it is outside right next to the pool! The Italian restaurant has a HUGE variety of food to choose from and it was quite tasty! The Creole restaurant was wonderful! We both had roast chicken which was served with rice and black bean sauce. Sauteed pork, fried bananas and a saucy beef came on the side. We weren't going to try that restaurant but were pleasantly surprised! The International restaurant was small and a little hot, but the food was great! You basically get a choice of the items from all the other restaurants. With regards to getting sick, I have never met anyone who has travelled outside of North America and has not gotten a little sick! My husband was sick one day, but other than that, things were mostly fine. Take some Pepto or Immodium and drink lots of the bottled water...but expect for someone in your party to get sick, it's not Canada and chances are, your body is not used to it! We did find that the alcohol drinks were always inconsistent, but the best drinks are from the lobby bar. SERVICE The staff at SOLYMAR was unbelievable!! We always left a $1 or $2 tip at lunch and dinner, sometimes more when they were extra special! The servers begin to recognize you quickly and you know them by name. We became buddies with 'Emilio', a waiter in the main buffet. He always knew what we wanted to drink before we asked and always chatted with us! He knew how much we liked the mangoes so he came to the hotel on his day off with mangoes from his home for us to bring home! They are wonderful! OTHER STUFF We didn't do much other than sit on the beach while we were there, but I will tell what we did do! One afternoon we walked along the beach (about 25 minutes) to the local tourist market. They had the typical tourist stuff that is sold on the beach, only it is cheaper there. I would not suggest walking there in the afternoon, as it gets unbearably hot, and since the water is warm that doesn't help much! We did see quite a few topless bathers along our walk, so children beware! The beaches along the public part were not as clean, but it wasn't distusting... We took the Jungle Cruise, which was a lot of fun. It didn't cost a lot ($39 per person) and we had a great time! You get to drive the jet ski for about 90 minutes before going to a small zoo where you can hold several different animals including an alligator! We met a lot of wonderful Canadians on our vacation and I got the overall impression that everyone was enjoying themselves! My only beef with our vacation were the ignorant tourists there. Some people were very rude to the staff and other tourists. We stayed for two weeks and it was quite a long time. 7 days was not long enough and 14 was too much. We were ready to go home after 10 or 11 days. This was the impression that I got from others as well. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me...I love to talk about Cuba! Thanks for reading! Lindsay
Lindsay
| 
